My sister and I used to play the Milton-Bradley board game Life, moving a plastic car along the predetermined path (adding pink or blue pegs to represent spouse and kids), and marking the "mileposts" of American living by paying or collecting money for various events. I suppose this game is intended to represent how life is "supposed" … Continue reading “Life”—a Revised Edition
Category: Family
What Charlies Are For
Charlie keeps things simple. The rack and saddlebags on his bike can carry what he owns. So far as I can tell, that consists of: a tobacco pouch and plastic cigarette-roller, some T-shirts and socks and a second pair of jeans, a plaid flannel shirt and a camouflage coat, several hats and a mismatched pair of … Continue reading What Charlies Are For
Full Circle: At the Wheel
Dad took me car-shopping my Senior year of high school, explaining that although he'd drive the new car for a while, it was intended eventually for my use. I pictured myself in a Jeep Cherokee: four-wheel-drive, room in the back for dive gear and camping kit, a rack on top for my parents' old orange canoe, and plenty of under-carriage … Continue reading Full Circle: At the Wheel
Introducing: “Hawai’ian BBQ Blog”
I know, I know... You've been wondering what on earth has happened to me. The short (and joyful!) answer is that we've been entirely absorbed in the first month's business at our new restaurant, Kana Girl's Hawai'ian BBQ. We're settling into a good rhythm now, and I'm once again finding a little time to write. … Continue reading Introducing: “Hawai’ian BBQ Blog”
The Double-Bride Wedding
There's a famous line from the Hawai'ian-themed Disney movie, Lilo & Stitch: "Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind."But as even the movie demonstrates, Family is also a very complicated thing. Sometimes it takes some time---decades, even---to reach that point where nobody is being left behind.Our family is a pretty good example, "All-American" in its complexity. Keoni … Continue reading The Double-Bride Wedding
The Diarist’s Conundrum, & a Story About Community
I've been keeping journals since I was six years old. That first diary is a real gem, with one-sentence entries like: "Today I went crazy and thawt I was a frog." I wish I remembered the story behind that... The trouble with keeping journals, though, has always been the fact that when you have the … Continue reading The Diarist’s Conundrum, & a Story About Community
Once Upon a Restaurant
Once Upon a Time... Kana & Keoni owned a Hawai'ian barbecue restaurant. For more than a year, Kana Girl's Hawai'ian BBQ held UrbanSpoon's #1 spot for "Best BBQ restaurant" in the Treasure Valley (home to one-third of Idaho's population).... And we had a kick-ass time of it, building a unique atmosphere with our combined knowledge … Continue reading Once Upon a Restaurant
Kana's Chronicles 